


A third wheel only works on a tricycle

by tommy-or-billy-who-am-I (dreamsofaweirdo)



Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, M/M, Young Avengers Holiday Gift Exchange 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 18:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13037022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofaweirdo/pseuds/tommy-or-billy-who-am-I
Summary: Tommy can be a bit of a third wheel to Billy and Teddy sometimes but maybe that will change some day.





	A third wheel only works on a tricycle

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift fic for [angiespica](https://angiespica.tumblr.com/), for the Young Avengers holiday gift exchange for 2017. I tried to include all of the prompts, which were "Billy/Teddy with third wheel Tommy", "Tommy/Kate fluff maybe" and "Teddy, cause I fricking love him", in some way or another.

**Mornings:**

Teddy is doing his morning stretches, his tight white top riding up his toned golden body. Meanwhile, Billy is sitting at the kitchen counter staring at Teddy’s now slightly exposed stomach. His face turns bright red when he notices just how badly he is actually staring. This happens every single morning and Teddy is well aware of this. Teddy tries to suppress his laugh, wondering if Billy noticed that he does it on purpose now after seeing Billy’s reaction to it the first two times.

“Morning losers,” Tommy says as he enters the small kitchen. His white hair is pointing in every single direction imaginable. He looks exhausted and mildly pissed off, so not a new expression for the restless sleeper. The pyjamas he’s wearing look creased and as if he hadn’t changed them for ages.

“Morning, Tommy,” Billy responds. His eyes involuntarily running back over Teddy who is now flexing his biceps while doing his stretching.

“I swear you buy t-shirts that are too tight on purpose,” Tommy whinges. He pours himself and Billy a cup of black coffee, putting six sugars in his own. He places Billy’s mug in front of Billy before sitting down next to him. Both of them have terrible bed hair and seeing them sit next to each other so early in the morning makes them look alike even more. Besides the colour of the hair and eyes, and the choice of sleeping attire they look virtually identical, same morning tiredness, expression and all.

“You noticed? And here I thought only your brother was gawking at me,” Teddy mocks him, making Billy blush even more and Tommy groan in annoyance. Teddy stops stretching and starts making the breakfast; turkey bacon, eggs and toast for the twins and fresh fruit with yogurt and oats for himself. Every now and then Teddy turns to Billy and smiles or sticks his tongue out at him.

“What are you two doing today?” Tommy asks after a while. Even after living with Teddy and Billy for over a year now he still can’t handle their silence while eating breakfast. He gets irritated by their glances at each other and their small grins and smiles as if they were communicating but won’t include him in the conversation. Being excluded annoys him more than anything else.

“Teddy and I work so I think we’ll probably be going to work,” Billy answers somewhat snarky while keeping his eyes on Teddy who is winking at him over his cup of green tea.

“Great, I’ll come pick you up for lunch then,” Tommy announces and Billy tries not to sigh. Instead he turns towards Tommy and smiles.

“Cool, as long as we don’t go to get noodles again,” Billy agrees. They have had noodles almost every day for quite a while now and if it weren’t for Teddy and Billy, Tommy would probably survive on over-sugared black coffee, energy drinks and noodles.

“I second that”, Teddy adds. He places the empty dishes into the sink and starts to do the washing up, whistling as he does so.

“When we decided to move together I always thought that I would be the housewife, you know Jewish stereotypes and all, but honestly he is such a natural,” Billy says, affection running through his words. Tommy rolls his eyes before hitting his brother’s upper arm for being so sappy.

“I don’t think you could cook a meal to save your life and that even though your parents are astonishing cooks,” Teddy laughs. “They were too easy on you,” he adds before looking over his shoulder at Billy, who is now pouting.

“I’ve cooked for you before, last week for example,” Billy counters, trying to save his honour. Tommy starts to laugh before Teddy even responds.

“Billy…the kitchen was on fire for almost a minute because you got distracted by the TV,” Teddy replies with a horrified expression. Tommy is still laughing, remembering the look of pure shock on both Billy and Teddy’s faces when he pointed out the burning smell coming from the kitchen.

“And Rebbecca always said I was too easily distracted,” Tommy adds, slowly calming down now.

“You two must be more alike than you originally thought,” Teddy says, his expression going back to something amused.

“Don’t say that!” Billy and Tommy exclaim at the exact same time, making Teddy burst out laughing. The twins glare at each other, clearly upset that they just proved Teddy’s statement. They are both very much aware that they have similarities and not just physical ones, but they hate admitting this. So whenever somebody makes remarks about their similarities they get extremely defensive. Teddy thinks that it probably has something to do with Billy having two younger brothers and wanting to stand out, and Tommy never really getting along with his parents and him wanting to be proud of whom he is despite this, and having somebody quote unquote “uncool” be similar takes away that pride.

“Don’t worry, no matter how similar you two are, I’ll always prefer you,” Teddy whispers to Billy, his lips brushing against the tip of Billy’s ear and his breath making Billy’s hair stand. He then heads for the bedroom to get dressed for work. Billy blushes a bright shade of red and quickly follows Teddy, banging the bedroom door behind him.

Tommy groans and goes to his own room. Alone. He can hear the other two giggling so he decides to put on his headphones and drown out any other sound around him. With music blasting and his foot wagging to the beat of the song he just stays there for a while trying to ignore that he feels like he is missing out. Not on Teddy because that would be weird, but feeling as though he is missing out on love.

He only stops thinking about ignoring his thoughts when he hears a knock on the door and sees Teddy slowly open it. “We’re getting coffee before work; do you want to join us?” Teddy asks with a wide smile on his face. At first Tommy was annoyed at how Teddy was always so happy and smiley at everybody and thought that he was fake but now he really appreciates it because he knows how genuinely kind Teddy is.

“If you’re paying,” Tommy jokes and jumps off his bed. He gets dressed and heads towards the door.

“Scarf and gloves,” Teddy holds them towards Tommy as if he were his mother, only that his actual mother never did that. Billy is already wrapped in multiple layers of knitted clothing. It honestly wouldn’t surprise Tommy if Teddy actually made the gloves or the scarf himself.

The three of them head out into the cold and busy streets of New York in the winter to begin their days.

**Lunches:**

“For somebody who never stops moving and is extremely hectic he sure is late a lot,” Billy moans over the phone to Teddy. He can hear Teddy walking around outside, the New York traffic surrounding him. Pedestrians chatting, cars honking and every now and then a person shouting out offers for cheap hot dogs and coffee.

“Oh come on, he’s only three minutes late, should I remind you of date night last week when you showed up half an hour late?” Teddy laughs, slightly out of breath from dodging pedestrians. “Plus, I’m not even there yet,” he adds quickly.

“You’re different, you’re my boyfriend and you’re on the phone to me,” Billy explains, a poor attempt at justifying his previous statement about Tommy. “Also, I apologised like twenty times for that already. T, you promised you wouldn’t hold a grudge,” Billy says, his pout almost audible through the phone.

“I can see him now, we’re both like a minute away from your office building,” Teddy responds before waving to Tommy. “I think another twenty apologies will make my grudge disappear…that and lots of cuddles,” Teddy teases Billy a little. Tommy doesn’t notice Teddy at first but once he does, he waves back and his face lights up.

“Sup dude,” Tommy says when they reach the large glass door to the lobby of the law firm Billy works for.

“Did he seriously just say ‘Sup dude’?” Billy asks, still on the phone to Teddy.

“Yes he did, we’re downstairs now,” Teddy answers before ending the call. He smiles at Tommy before opening the foyer for him. The two of them wait downstairs until Billy enters the lobby from one of the lifts. “Hey, babe,” Teddy says, kisses Billy’s cheek and takes his hand.

“PDA is gross, stop it,” Tommy rolls his eyes at the two. Teddy wonders if Tommy would think the same if they weren’t two guys or if Billy wasn’t his brother, or if Tommy is just generally opposed to affection. He doubts that it’s the first one, Tommy is far from homophobic. The second one is very likely. Teddy kind of thinks that Tommy might be jealous of Billy, not because he thinks he’s such a great catch, although he is, but because Billy actually has somebody to love him, to show him affection and to be “gross” in public with.

“Stop being a douche,” Billy counters and heads for the glass doors. It’s a little cool outside, winter coming closer and closer, so Billy moves towards Teddy, who somehow always radiates heat.

“So where to?” Teddy asks, sounding as though he is asking both of the twins but just meaning Billy. He knows that if it was up to Tommy they would live on Ramen and over sweetened, caffeinated beverages alone, something he would rather not do.

“We can go to the diner down the street, they do burgers, breakfasts, salads and stuff,” Billy responds before leading the way. Teddy is easy to feed; he likes almost anything as long as it’s vegetarian. And Tommy just eats for fuel and not for pleasure anyway so he doesn’t really care at all.

On the way to the dinner Teddy keeps noticing how Tommy glances at Billy’s and Teddy’s intertwined fingers. For just a brief moment he thinks about taking Tommy’s hand but decided against it.

\--

“Can I take your orders?” a waitress approximately their age, maybe a few years older, with long dark hair pulled back into a high ponytail asks. The smile on her face is clearly just for the customers and she looks somewhat impatient while waiting for a response. Her uniform is bright purple and makes the complexion of her skin look like porcelain. She looks like her skin might chip if she were to genuinely smile.

“I’ll have the pasta with tomato sauce and a large coke,” Tommy quickly replies. He suddenly seems a lot more interested than he did a few minutes ago. Billy and Teddy both notice this and glance at each other with amusement.

“Can I have a grilled cheese with tomatoes and a strawberry milkshake, please,” Teddy continues the order. Billy has always been astounded how Teddy sounds polite and friendly non-stop whenever he is talking to strangers, ordering food or just generally interacting with people.

“I’ll have some French toast and a coke please,” Billy says with a smile, similar to the one the waitress is sporting, obviously just for show. She writes down the orders, tells them that if there is anything else she can do for them they should just call her and then turns and heads for the kitchen. Tommy’s eyes are following her until she is out of sight.

“Do you have to stare at her like that,” Billy teases him.

“Do you have to stare at Teddy the way you do?” Tommy counters. This isn’t the first time they’ve had this interaction and it probably won’t be the last time either. Teddy laughs at the twins fighting. Not having a sibling doesn’t upset him quite as much when he sees just how much Billy and Tommy go at each other.

“I’ll be back,” Tommy says before leaving the table for the bathroom. Billy instantly moves closer to Teddy. He leans his head against Teddy’s shoulder and a loud sigh leave his lips.

“What’s up, B?” Teddy asks, gently tracing his hand up and down Billy’s arm.

“I just hardly get to spend any alone time with you anymore,” Billy explains, he has clearly been thinking about this for quite some time, Teddy can hear it in his voice. “Tommy is always there to make a stupid comment whenever I look at you or roll his eyes whenever I kiss you. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” Teddy didn’t realise how much Billy was actually affected by the comments and looks that he thought were mostly funny.

“He likes spending time with us,” Teddy responds, trying to lighten the mood a little. “He likes third wheeling,” he adds with a small laugh.

“Three wheels don’t work, Teddy,” Billy says almost belligerent.

“They work on a tricycle,” Teddy replies somewhat dispirited. “Tommy is clearly lonely, B. Haven’t you noticed how sad he gets when he thinks we aren’t looking or how he looks at our hands when we walk down the street together?” he sounds almost accusing even though he doesn’t intend to do so.

“Oh…No, I didn’t notice that.” Billy is now looking down at his fingers. He never really thought about why his brother is doing the things he does whenever Teddy and Billy are affectionate towards each other. Billy always presumed it was just because they are brothers.

“He’s your brother and he sees how happy you seem with me, any normal person would get jealous and clingy in that situation,” Teddy explains, trying to make Billy understand Tommy’s standpoint. Teddy has always been more democratic about situations like this one. Billy still remembers the time Teddy calmed him down when Kesler was constantly harassing him at the office. Without Teddy Billy probably would have stapled something to Kesler’s face by now.

“Just try to put yourself into his position, what if he had an amazing, funny, caring and talented boyfriend, how  would that make you feel?” Teddy is obviously being tongue in cheek right now to lighten the mood and make Billy laugh. He doesn’t fail at that, making Billy crack up.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I would do, probably curse Tommy or steal his boyfriend or something,” Billy responds, a smile now replacing the previous annoyance that was painted across his face.

“Only problem with that is that you two don’t have the same taste in people…mainly because he’s straight,” Teddy fake shivers when he says the word ‘straight’, making Billy snickers again.

 The two of them see their waitress come towards the table with a tray holding their drinks. “Where’s your friend…or brother, you two look very alike,” she asks as she places the drinks in front of Billy and Teddy. Billy presumes that she is just asking to be polite and seem interested.

“He’s just gone to the bathroom and they’re twins,” Teddy replies with a smile. The waitress returns the smile, Teddy’s positivity being infectious.

“Twins are kinda creepy, I’d hate to have another version of me walking this earth,” she says before turning back towards the kitchen.

“I think she likes Tommy,” Teddy whispers to Billy as the dark haired woman walks away.

“You think so? I don’t see it,” Billy says, thinking about it a little. “Why would she like him, she’s only just seen him for the first time,” Billy adds.

“It’s probably because he’s so handsome,” Teddy responds with a little wink, obviously flirting with Billy more than giving Tommy a compliment. Billy smiles as his cheeks turn red. “You’re lucky I like dark hair,” Teddy quickly continues, still whispering into Billy’s ear.

Tommy is leaving the bathroom just as Billy’s blushing is fading away. He sits back down but Billy doesn’t bother to move away from Teddy this time. He now understands Tommy a bit better but is refusing to let that push him away from Teddy.

“So how s work going for you two?” Tommy asks and to Billy’s surprise he seems genuinely interested.

“I’ve got a ton of paperwork to do and I have no idea when I’ll get my next case which is a bit annoying but at least Kesler has toned down his attitude lately…I think he is finally getting laid or the Christmas time is making him nicer,” Billy answers with a small laugh. The two others laugh too, they’ve heard so many stories about Crazy Kesler and how unbearable he is.

“I secured a huge order from the store today so hopefully I’ll get a decent little bonus for the Holidays, Mum might actually get some nice jewellery for Christmas this year instead of the usual homemade care package,” Teddy responds to Tommy’s question. “How is the art going?” he asks Tommy.

“Commissions are starting to come in more frequently for the holiday season, which is pretty cool. Honestly, capitalist Christmas isn’t that bad, it means I get paid more,” Tommy jokes. He has been busier with his art lately but he still doesn’t get a lot of requests. Billy admires him for doing something that he is so passionate about and which helps him deal with his ADHD but he knows how much of a struggle for income it is. On top of not really having that much of a social life and having to stay with Billy and Teddy, Billy can understand why Tommy might be a little touchy sometimes.

“That’s great, seems like we’re all having a pretty decent time with work right now,” Billy says with a bright smile. Teddy gently takes and squeezes his hand, also with a smile.

It isn’t long before their food comes and their table falls completely silent. Tommy, very obviously, eyes the waitress again as she places their food down. The three boys are indulging in their meals without a single word leaving their lips, being typical boys.

The purple dressed waitress walks past their table every now and then to ask if everything is alright and to refill the twins’ cokes. Every time Tommy notices her he readjusts his posture and puts an awkward smile onto his face. Teddy thinks this is absolutely hilarious. Billy on the other hand has yet to notice.

“You know you can just ask her out or something, right?” Teddy says after Tommy repositioned himself for what seems to be the fifth time. “She probably doesn’t bite hard,” he adds, making himself cackle more than anything else.

“Haha very funny Altman,” Tommy glares at Teddy. If looks could kill Tommy would probably kill people on the daily.

“It was just a suggestion,” Teddy responds, still smiling about his little remark about biting.

The three of them finish the rest of their meal in silence with Tommy glaring at Teddy because Teddy is trying not to laugh whenever the waitress walks past their table. Once they are done they ask for the bill and when it arrives it has a little note attached to it which reads “Your friend is right, I don’t bite hard. Call me after my shift, I finish at 6 –Kate” followed by a mobile phone number.

A wide grin appears on Tommy’s face after reading the note. He isn’t used to receiving notes like this and he’s a little surprised that Kate was the one who instigated this. Most girls just look past him or laugh whenever he shows any interest. He used to be a bit of a player, going out every night to party and to bring home girls or go home with girls to dull his loneliness. Seeing his parents argue constantly while he was growing up put him off monogamy or actual functioning relationships. But seeing Rebbecca and Jeff, his friends Cassie and Jonas or Billy and Teddy together and how happy a relationship can actually be through trust, understanding and communication actually changed his mind a little.

Then again Tommy never really communicated much anyway, or at least not about personal things. Who needs feelings when being emotionally unavailable works too?

**Evenings:**

The three boys are sitting on the couch, watching one of the many TV shows they’ve binge watch together before. Teddy has his arm wrapped around Billy’s shoulder and Billy is slowly drifting of while the TV flickers in front of them. Tommy, who is sitting on the other side of Teddy, is sketching away at rough line work for commissions. A Steve Rodgers kissing Peppy’s check under the mistletoe is slowly forming on the page in front of him. This makes Teddy smile; reminding him of the time he had an artist draw a picture of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver celebrating Hanukkah for Billy. The joys of nerds buying Christmas gifts for other nerds.

Every now and then Tommy looks at his mobile and rapidly text Kate back. They’ve probably been texting for the last three hours or so. Billy is startled awake every time by the loud vibrating sound of Tommy’s mobile phone.

“Is she writing anything interesting?” Teddy asks in a soft voice, trying not to disturb Billy’s gentle slumber.

“Turns out she is the daughter of millionaire and philanthropist Derek Bishop. She doesn’t actually have to work but does it because she likes leaving the house for things other than college, and doesn’t want to live of her father for the rest of her life,” Tommy explains, sounding more fascinated by this than Teddy had ever heard him be about anything else.

“She also thinks you two sound like nerds,” Tommy adds with a laugh that wakes Billy again.

“Why does she think we sound like nerds?” Teddy asks, laughing as well.

“I told her that you two dressed up for Star Wars movies multiple times and that you’re planning to do the same this year. I also told her about the comic book collection and the Marvel and DC posters all over your room and the little shrine of comic book memorabilia you have right over there,” Tommy says and points at the cupboard with the comic book encyclopaedias, Funko Pops, action figures, mugs and other trinkets.

“Did you mention the fact that you were the one who bought all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe DVDs that we own in this apartment?” Teddy raises an eyebrow at Tommy, teasing him a little. Tommy likes to make out that Billy and Teddy are the geeky losers even though he enjoys all the things they enjoy just as much, he just pretends not to and keeps quiet about it.

“That is a lie, I bought the Captain America ones,” Billy interjects, sounding a little groggy.

“That’s because you have a crush on Chris Evans,” Teddy responds with a little smile.

“Everybody has a crush on Chris Evans, I mean look at him! He’s the Captain of our America,” Billy mumbles. He is clearly still half asleep and quickly drifts off into the world of dreams again.

“Back to you,” Teddy says and turns to Tommy. “You know that she’ll figure out about your geeky side at some point right?”

“Of course but until then I can at least try to look cool and badass,” Tommy replies with a cheeky smirk.

“That statement alone makes you less badass, and uncool,” Teddy laughs, mocking Tommy. “Besides, being a geek isn’t uncool anymore, everybody is a fanboy or girl of something nowadays, nothing is just for geeks anymore,” Teddy adds. “I bet even Kate fangirls about a tv show or movie.”

“There is a difference between fangirling over a TV show and dressing up as Princess Leia,” Tommy counters.

“General Leia,” Teddy corrects him. “And Billy put a lot of effort into that costume so don’t be mean about it,” he continues. “Also, you were dressed up as Luke!”

“Because you forced me to be Luke based purely on the fact that Billy and I are twins just like Luke and Leia! I would have been a far better Han Solo,” Tommy’s geekier side is now coming out, making Teddy smile.

“You can be a bit of a geek sometimes just like anybody else, there is no reason to hide that,” Teddy states and for him that issue is now resolved.

“Anyway, Kate also said that she thinks you would get along well with her friend America. Apparently you would balance out her naturally silent and grumpy nature with your overly positive attitude,” Tommy laughs, changing the subject.

“America? That is such a cool name,” Teddy purposely ignores the second part of what Tommy said.

After a few minutes of silence, with Tommy texting back and forth, Teddy watching Sarah Manning discover yet another one of the clones, and Billy slowly drooling onto Teddy’s arm, Tommy turns to Teddy. “Ehm…bit of a weird question but where did you take Billy out on your first date?” Tommy asks quietly, this time not wanting Billy to wake up.

“Oh god, good question…that was ages ago,” Teddy thinks for a little while about what Billy and he did for their first official date. “The first time I took him out we went to a museum, then to the park for a picnic and then went to mine to watch a DVD I rented, why do you ask?”

“Of course you had to overdo it and not just go to the movies or out for coffee like any normal person,” Tommy laughs but through the laugh Teddy can hear that Tommy is somewhat jealous, either because nobody has ever done something like that for him or because he never had anybody to do something similar for. “I want to take Kate out but I don’t want to be cliché.”

“Billy was actually the one who organised the first date and he asked first,” Teddy says. “He took me to get coffees and then walk through a market in Brooklyn,” affection if clearly audible in Teddy’s words.

“Like a farmers market?” Tommy asks, sounding genuinely curious.

“Yeah, but good luck finding a farmers market in the middle of December,” Teddy responds. “You could take her to a Christmas market, have some hot cocoa, share a crepe and gingerbread,” he adds, trying to give Tommy some small suggestions.

“I’m not even sure if she likes Christmas,” Tommy answers, sounding unsure and somewhat self-conscious. Teddy knows very well that Tommy just pretends to be the cocky confident type but he really hasn’t ever heard Tommy be so insecure. He really seems to fancy Kate. Maybe the third wheel has found its matching partner? Teddy smiles at that thought.


End file.
